Covered In Bees: The Dead Hive (With Video!)

(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 8.442% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)

So do you want to see a box of bees? I’m very thrilled. I got it this weekend.
As we all know, the B-Wing is the coolest fighter in all of Star Wars, so after years of lusting after a Kenner B-Wing I found a reproduction, and…
Oh, wait. Bees. You want to know about our bees. Well, you’ll be happy to know that I took videos!
As you recall, Bob, we had two hives last year: our old hive of bees, which were nice and docile and kind, and our new bees, which were vicious and had stings that could swell your hand to the point of unusability for two days. We stopped feeding the new bees, partially because they stung us every time we tried to swap the container, and partially because if they died we’d breathe a sigh of relief.
Now it looks like the exceptionally long winter did them in. I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, they were so stupid as to sting the hand that fed them, actively aggressive to the point where we could not help them. On the other, we did haul them all the way out from California to live in our yard, and as such had assumed responsibility for them to a certain extent. I feel like I murdered a bunch of insects, which were as innocent as insects get. I mean, millions of years of evolution had taught them that things poking around their hive were usually harmful, and it’s not really their fault that they didn’t understand our beneficial intent.
Still, now I can walk in the back yard without feeling oppressed. So hey. Mixed.
Anyway, here are Gini and me getting into the dead hive, showing you what it looks like when all the bees are gone – if by “all the bees,” you mean “a tragic handful”:

And here’s the unexpected benefit the bees left behind, which we certainly were not expecting.

The good news is, we’re getting a fresh box of bees on Wednesday, and when we put them in this old hive, they’ll have a hell of a head start. Bees are not sentimental creatures, and they will move into this new home, happy to not have to expend valuable food and energy on making comb everywhere. They’ll clean it out – bees are fastidious – and set up shop quickly, making us hope that we may gets some honey from these new guys come the fall.
Assuming they’re not mean bees. But we have a nice queen this time around. Denzil has assured us this queen is gentle and nice and lays very sweet workers. Or so we hope.